Thursday, April 1, 2010

Frugal Moments in a Small Town:Oysters and Peppers

As long as I live in my little town, I will have to be well-behaved. Just today, I had to pick up a prescription for a back ailment. The druggist was the father of one of Frugal Son's preschool pals. Working at the counter was a friend of a friend of Frugal Son, who also was in Mr. FS's class last year.

That person told me that there was a good coupon for something I wanted to buy; she produced one from behind the counter. Thanks! I saved $10.00.

I mailed something at the little postal station at the grocery store. Angela, who works there, asked how my back was. She recommended a cortisone shot. Then I noticed piles of peppers (red, yellow, and poblano) on the reduced shelf. 39 cents a pound.

Since I was right there, I nipped into Big Lots. The nice lady who puts out the food said that nothing special had come in. So that saved me some time.

My mother is visiting. She and Mr. FS just went off to Acme Oyster Bar, an iconic New Orleans restaurant, which has an outpost here. They have an oyster special: 25 cents an oyster between 3 and 5, Monday - Thursday. Sadly, I don't like oysters.

I've not lived in a small town either. However, I do live in a suburban area between a village and a town (they are picky about the difference here in England), about 10 miles east of a city. The fact that I can walk the mile to the town or the half mile to the supermarket or the quarter mile to the village means that I don't actually have to have a car to meet my daily needs. Having to carry things home when I'm walking certainly makes me a lot pickier about what I buy!

LOL! Around here they are, because there's nothing to buy! You can't even buy a decent piece of cheese in an Arizona small town, and there certainly are no oyster bars. Or Big Lots.

Fact is that while there are few stores and little to do in most of Arizona's wide spots in the road, it can actually be more expensive to live there. Gasoline is high because it has to be trucked there. Utility suppliers have no competition, and so costs are higher there than in cities with two utility companies. Propane is extremely high, so if you heat your house with that, your bills are through the roof. And the one grocer in town can charge whatever the market will bear. If you live in Yarnell, Congress Junction, Kirkland Junction, Peeple's Valley, or waypoints, you have to drive into Phoenix to buy groceries and supplies at stores where the prices are affordable. There's a Costco in Prescott, but that assumes you can afford to shop in Costco. Unless you work for the state or the feds, you probably can't, because there are no jobs in such towns. Both these cities are an hour's drive from Yarnell, at $3/gallon.

I think small towns can keep you more or less honest -- or at least make you behave discretely when you're up to something -- because everybody knows everybody else's business. But you pay for the privilege. ;-)

Grew up in a town of 6.000 where everyone knew my parents. Dad forbade Mom to buy at the bakery outlet because "that is for people who need it". (She would pull up in a Cadillac.) Ditto sales in the chic summer shops. She could buy at sales IF she had also bought at full price during the season. As a professional who billed people for his services, he did not want a reputation for being cheap.

Anyone living in a small town (except a hermit) gets some kind of reputation, which sticks. And the gossip! Little confidentiality re prescriptions, credit ratings or the like.

I´m living in a small village, just outside our capital city. I´m not quite able to answer your question, since I´m so frugal, that I hate spending my money on food ; ). My hb does the food shopping. I have noticed that the locals buy larger amounts of everything. The shopping cart of their´s differs very much from mine.

Furgal. I'm curious about your comment about "hating spending money on food", as it's so different from both your willingness and standards in other areas- art, clothes, jewelry. Do you have any sense of why that is?

OOps that comment was for metscan, not you, Frugal- thoug it is of tinerest to me why we all haveo ut areas where we are willing to spend and others in which we are fugal or beyond. (For me, it is winter boots, I cannot stand to spend here.)

@Shelley--My dream is to live in a walkable city...with one of those grocery carriers with wheels---like grandma used to have.

@Funny--I guess not THAT small.

@Duchesse--I am kind of a marginal figure here, since I didn't grow up here. So maybe that's why I can fly under the radar. I think a lot of the locals live under surveillance such as you describe---ugh.

@metscan--I love grocery shopping and don't allow my husband to do it. You are lucky to have such an obliging mate.

@Duchesse--One of us should do a post on that--I will if you don't want to.